example of hard news lede from The Houston Chronicle

Police horse tramples Montrose resident at Pride parade

Kirste Reimers didn’t notice the policemen approaching on horseback from her left. Her eyes were fixed on the festive pageantry on her right, where sequins glittered and bright beads sailed from floats in the annual Pride Houston Parade.
The three mounted Houston police officers were sweeping the edge of Westheimer, trying to keep pedestrians from spilling off the sidewalks and into the street during the Saturday night parade, which winds through the heart of Montrose. Oblivious to the patrol, the 50-year-old Montrose resident suddenly found herself under the horse’s hooves, where she was kicked and stomped, bruising most of her body, splitting her chin open, knocking out teeth and slamming her head on the asphalt.

I think this works as a great hard news lede because of the irony of the situation. To start out with having a parade-goer simply attending the local Pride Parade and literally ending up being kicked in the teeth, to me, is pretty jolting. This horse attack sounds brutal and Reimers wasn't doing anything to upset the police or the horse. It could have happened to anyone there. A case of "wrong place at the wrong time". (And, of course, what is a Texas story without a horse in it?)